Pine cone applications

The applique is a craft that children make both in kindergarten and in primary school. Beautiful compositions can be modeled not only from cardboard, paper or plasticine, but also from natural materials. Crafts from cones look very original. In this article, we will learn how you can make such applications.

The material donated by nature itself must be properly prepared. We must not forget that the cones are usually collected from the ground, so you cannot immediately use them to model crafts.

It is advisable to flush as thoroughly as possible so that there are no residues of dirt. Further, all the flakes of natural material will need to be cleaned using a small brush. When the buds have gone through all these steps, they will need to be placed on a cotton napkin or on a terry towel. The buds do not need to be dried with a hair dryer or similar. They must definitely dry completely naturally.

As soon as the scales of the cones are completely clean and dry, you can start trimming individual elements for the further manufacture of original applications. It is most convenient to carry out these manipulations using ordinary wire cutters or pruning shears.... If the work is carried out with thin spruce cones, then sharp scissors will be enough. The scales should be cut right down to the very base - the trunk. This element is a solid branch in the middle. Usually it is thrown away and not used in creative work.

From natural materials previously collected in a park or forest, very beautiful applications are obtained, depicting a variety of animals. For example, a child can do with his own hands cute hedgehog, carrying stocks on thorns.

We will find out how to make such an interesting application correctly.

1. It will take a lot of time to create such a craft, so it is advisable to make it for children aged 6-7 years. First, you need to draw (or print) a hedgehog on paper. This part must be carefully cut exactly along the contour.
2. The cut out blank is glued to a cardboard base of bright colors. Further, the back of the forest animal is coated with a dense plasticine layer. The thickness should be such that the needles in the form of scales from the cones reliably rush upward, without falling off the base.
3. When the plasticine mass is smeared over the back of the painted hedgehog, you should start fixing the natural components. The scales will need to be inserted as tightly as possible into the smeared layer, placing them close to each other. The clay should not remain visible.
4. On top of the improvised needles, it will be possible to attach apples, pears, grapes or mushrooms, molded from plasticine mass.

Using natural buds, you can create a lot of beautiful autumn compositions. Most of them are very simple and quick to model, but at the same time they turn out to be harmonious and attractive.

For example, you can take advantage of such an excellent master class.

1. You should stock up on a few cones, as well as natural leaves, the color of which has already begun to turn yellow or red. The foliage of any tree is suitable, be it maple, birch, and so on. It is worth stocking up on a few berries of viburnum or mountain ash.
2. You need to take a cardboard base. On it, the child needs to draw a yellowing meadow and a gray-blue autumn sky. In the center of the picture, a tree trunk should be drawn, from which thin branches emanate, planted with glue. The last parts can be collected in the forest or a nearby park.
3. You will need to glue the collected leaves of the trees to the branches. The order of arrangement of all elements is selected individually. In addition to the leaves, the twigs should be supplemented with viburnum berries fixed at the tips.
4. Several "fluffy" cones should be fixed at the very bottom of the base painting, as if they had fallen from the painted tree to the ground. In combination with these components, it will be possible to stick one more bunch of viburnum.

Using natural materials, you can make a lot of creative applications that look interesting and attractive. A child of any age will be able to portray a variety of characters with his own hands.

For example, dry buds can be used to make a very funny "Fluffy" owl, which sits on a branch, clinging to it with clawed paws. This craft is not difficult to make, but it has a cool look.

We will learn step by step how it can be modeled.

1. First you need to take a suitable base. As such, it is better to use thick A4 cardboard.
2. The prepared cardboard base will need to be filled with a specific background color. For this, spectacular overflows of light green and dark green shades are suitable, imitating the forest thicket behind the owl's back. It will be possible to realize such a beautiful background by means of a uniformly smeared plasticine mass of the corresponding colors.
3. At the bottom of the base, using brown plasticine, you will need to depict a branch, on which the nocturnal bird will be modeled later.
4. Now you can proceed to making the owl itself. To do this, pre-prepared scales from cones should be inserted into the plasticine base, adhering to certain contours.
5. The body of the bird can be made round and plump, the head will be small. On the sides of the body, you will need to depict wings, and in the lower part - clawed paws.
6. To simulate all of the specified items, the scales will need to be fastened sequentially, fixing them in rows with a slight overlap. Each subsequent row should slightly cover the previous one.
7. Form clawed paws will succeed by using not only the scales, but also the short roots from the cones.
8. Do not forget about the eyes and beak of the original bird sitting on a plasticine branch. Blind 2 flat white balls. It is advisable to make them larger, since the eyes of real owls are large in size. On a white base, you will need to stick pupils from black plasticine mass.
9. The beak can be made from any suitable element. This can be a bump root or a small piece of wood with a pointed tip.
10. It is necessary to decorate the finished application from plasticine mass and cones. You can use a variety of decorations, but other natural ingredients will fit best into the overall composition. For example, it can be thin spruce twigs with green needles. One branch can be fixed on a brown branch, and the second can be placed as if the owl was holding it in its wing.

How to color the cones for appliqués, see below.